faderift | OPEN: The Western Approach

OPEN: The Western Approach

WHO: Everyone!
WHAT: The Western Approach is a terrible place. You should definitely go there.
WHEN: Bloomingtide 15 onward
WHERE: The Western Approach
NOTES: This is open to everyone. Characters who would not happily go to the hell desert probably have to go anyway; it's a war, not a vacation.

Once these wastes were a land of plenty. Can you believe it? The rain came north over the Gamordan Peaks, turning the plains green and verdant for three months of the year. Eight hundred years ago, that changed. During the Second Blight, darkspawn spilled out of an enormous crack in the earth, corrupting it with their foul blood... and it never recovered, even after they were driven back underground. The Grey Wardens built Adamant Fortress to stand watch over that chasm, but eventually even they abandoned it to the wind and the biting sand.

What few of us eke out a living in this Maker-forsaken place do so knowing that any number of deaths await us: darkspawn raids, dragons, bandits—not to mention starvation from the lack of water and game. If we stay, it is because we know there are treasures buried in the bones of this place, ruins from the time when Tevinter ruled, and even earlier. We pass tales around our campfires of the things we have seen shrouded in the dust storms. My favorites are the ones about relics that could restore the Western Approach once more... but I don't believe them. Truth be told, on nights when the wind is calm, I can stand on a hilltop and see for miles in the moonlight over a stark beauty of which no other Orlesian can claim to know the equal. On those nights, I hope it will never change.

—From Lands of the Abyss by Magistrate Gilles de Sancriste

I. THE DESERT

When Scout Harding calls somewhere the worst place in Thedas, that's probably a bad sign. Even when nothing in the Western Approach is deliberately trying to kill you, there's nothing kind or forgiving about the landscape: bare and arid, carved through by sharp-dropped canyons, dotted with abandoned mines and signs of the deaths of lost travelers. Winds sweeping through to whip stinging sand into uncovered faces, and periodic dust storms obscure visibility entirely. It's warm enough to be dangerous but not so hot, at this time of year, that heat exhaustion and dehydration can't creep up on you while you aren't paying attention.

And at any given moment, something probably is deliberately trying to kill you. The food chain in the region is top-heavy, with quillbacks, phoenixes, hyenas, and varghests roaming hungrily and as likely to attack one another as the sparse local prey population. Compared to their natural competitors, the Inquisition's forces look like easy marks. The camps the Inquisition scatters at lookout points throughout the region require constant watch, and going anywhere alone is inadvisable. Not only because of the hostile local everything, but also because it is incredibly easy to get lost. One rock formation looks much like another after hours in the sun or bathed in shifting moonlit shadows, and good luck finding many other landmarks. There are a few: chunks of pillars or arches from some ruined structure, or the occasional odd pillar that might, if someone investigates, prove to mark a trail of sorts.

Plus: the only people who seem determined to survive out here are cutthroat bandits and stray Venatori. Double-plus: a high dragon makes occasional fly-bys, scouring the ground below for anything edible, armored or not.

Some reprieve comes at night, relief from both the sun and the area's primarily diurnal predators. But that's when the darkspawn come out.

II. GRIFFON WING KEEP

Bloomingtide 16-17: Taking the Keep

Only a small force of Tevinter cultists remains in Griffon Wing Keep when the Inquisition arrives, seemingly on their way out the door already, but the sight of Inquisition banners is enough to make them stay and fight. There's no need for siege equipment, but there is call for a little bit of patience. With it, a small battalion is able to evade the mages and archers on the walls and storm the doors with few casualties. Fewer than three dozen warriors wait inside. It's a quick, brutal fight; it only takes a night.

Bloomingtide 18 Onward: Home Away From Home

Once the Keep is cleared of occupants, it's ripe for the Inquisition to… occupy… But with implicit permission, at least. Those who aren't needed for fights elsewhere may be put to work clearing out debris and small animals and the remnants left by the cultists, and within a few days the fortress is a serviceable outpost, much more hospitable than the camps out in the sand. Barracks mean even those who don't have beds at Skyhold may have one here, and it takes less than a week for an enterprising merchant to arrive with ale.

III. THE STILL RUINS

Despite signs of recent activity, the lavish Tevinter palace tucked incongruously into the canyons is quiet and still, when the Inquisition discovers it—quiet, still, but not empty. The ancient ruin is brimming with demons and Tevinters in incredibly outdated fashions, all frozen in place, as they have been for hundreds of years. No one breathes or blinks, but their skin is still warm and alive to the touch.

Beyond the entryway and halls and through the courtyard, there are signs of research and experimentation, and one man stood unmoving with his hand clasped around something unseen.

Perhaps someone will discover the cause. Perhaps someone will undo the spell that's been cast over the palace. Perhaps, if someone does, someone will take the opportunity to not immediately murder all of these valuable sources of ancient information, and instead only murder most of them. In the meantime, however, it is unlikely that anyone will ever be able to get this close to a rage demon without receiving a face full of fire. Take advantage.

IV. CORACAVUS

Signs of the Venatori point upward: up the hills, up ladders and towers, and into the ancient Tevinter prison, Coracavus, that was built into the mountainside. The ruin is filled with sand now, with half-collapsed walls and anything not made of stone worn away by winds, and the Venatori are long gone, their hunt for relics from the glory days of the Imperium abandoned when an excavation attempt opened the prison to darkspawn, instead. The darkspawn have retreated as well, but there are signs of their presence. Namely the smell and the half-eaten corpses of slaves—primarily elven and dwarven—who were left behind to their fates when the Tevinters fled.

There's no sign of them now, but digging through their abandoned camps may turn up a name, if anyone would like to see that he pays.

V. ADAMANT FORTRESS

A day's determined walk from the nearest Inquisition camp, Adamant Fortress overlooks the vast chasm—dubbed the Abyssal Rift—from which darkspawn poured during the Second Blight. It stood abandoned for nearly 150 years before the Grey Wardens' recent reoccupation, and it's abandoned again now, emptied out well before the Inquisition's forces arrive. There are signs that the retreat was a hasty one: scattered belongings, opened doors, abandoned meals, and no fewer than fifty bodies left on a mass pyre that only half-burned without anyone to tend it.

The Veil has always been thin here, and it's thinner now, where demons have been pulled through from the Fade. Rifts hang over the battlements and in the corridors, and escaped shades lurk in the dark corridors, siphoning away the willpower of those who linger until they come close enough to attack. Those who visit the Fortress set up camp outside of it rather than within it, wisely.

There are clear signs of blood sacrifice, for those who look: the bodies, blood stains on the stone floors, neat lists of names systemically crossed through. Sorting through documents left behind may turn up vague notes in a mage's runic shorthand or the journal of a trepidatious new recruit (Lourde, a pickpocket, crossed through on the registers). Behind a locked door in the lowest rooms are the bodies of sixteen mages, still in their Circle robes, left lying where they fell when the Joining took them. Mages who were among the rebels in Redcliffe may recognize a face or two as belonging to the hardliners who left with the Tevinters.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's expected that there are rifts here, because Ellana can sense how thin the Veil is. Blood magic tends to do that, or so she's been told, since it's not something she would ever do herself.

Hearing the crackle of a rift, Ellana hurries closer, staff at the ready.

"Kain!" she exclaims, recognizing him from when they met in Skyhold's garden. "Do you know how to close it?"

Kain knows he's got to deal with this. He couldn't avoid it forever. But he's less than pleased and less than ready to be confronted with one now. He'd been more or less hoping to hang back and let some other rifter deal with it. But he's it, at the moment.

He glances over abruptly, remembering Ellana too from back in Skyhold. He's a bit ashamed of himself for hesitating now. "Ellana... believe it or not, I've never- not yet-" The shard in his hand pulses, the same green as that rift. And one of the creatures coming forth is fast approaching them... "Look out!" Kain slashes out toward the demon with his lance, trying to hold it back.

Ellana is quick to come over and lay a protective barrier over the both of them. Then she fires a few simple spells at the creature.

"It's all right!" she says, though it's hard to focus on fighting and then talk at the same time. "We'll figure it out!"

“Right! If I can get into a better position… I’ll do what I must…” He’s not thrilled about it, but when it comes to it, sealing the rift and stopping these demons is more important than his own feelings toward the shards. He’s a soldier first and foremost, which means he knows this is a time and place where personal feelings must be set aside.

But he’s not exactly close enough to do much, yet, with the demon blocking the way. “First we need to get rid of these things!” Kain pauses, shifting his lance back to his left hand, trying to hold it despite the increasing weirdness from that shard. He takes aim, stabbing and slashing toward the monster.

"Okay!" she calls back, using an energy barrage to help Kain weaken it. Then she turns her attention towards a shade that's gliding towards her, arms swinging like it's swimming through the air. She still has a bit of barrier left, so she takes the hit when it strikes her, letting her mana come back before she frost steps through it and whirls back around to fire simple attack spells at it from behind.

Ugh, these demonic creatures are such ghastly things. Kain is definitely more than glad he's got some help here... he'd have been swiftly outnumbered if not. Not only does he have to get closer, he can't really do much about that rift until he's not being attacked. So he focuses his attention on the demon coming after him, giving it an upward slash of his lance at it as he leaps upward, then striking down as he descends. It weakens the demon, but he's got to keep on it if he wants to get rid of it entirely.

As soon as the shade is dealt with, Ellana will assist him. The shade, now covered in frost from her spell, stays frozen for a moment before breaking free and turning around to follow the path she took away from it. She feels her mana is replenished, and her eyes dart between shade and demon. Ellana is no tactician, but she knows an opportunity when she sees one.

A bolt of lightning arcs between her left hand and her staff before she sends it out as chain lightning. One bolt strikes the shade, and the other hits the demon, paralyzing both. That should give Kain a chance to give it a hard hit.

Perfect. Kain backs off just enough to avoid getting struck himself, as the lightning sizzles and crackles through the air... and into the demon. While it's stunned is the best time to act. Kain charges in rapidly, his lance slashing into the monstrous figure. It's... always hard to tell what might be the most vital part of these creatures... so he just aims to cut deeply, taking advantage of its paralysis to severely damage it. When the demon starts moving again it's clearly weakened.

Ellana works on the shade, hurrying to back up as it comes out of its paralysis to charge her. She needs more mana for anything big, but can't risk taking a lyrium potion when it's this close, so she just wears it down with a simple attack spell and keeps moving away until it finally goes down. Now she can help Kain if he still needs it.

He definitely can use the help. As he's closing in to finish off the weakened demon, there's another one creeping out of the rift. All the more reason to get the thing closed, already. "Deal with the demon, I'll close that rift!" Now he's getting in a good spot to, once he takes care of the one he's facing. He stabs forward, slicing it apart. Then he shifts his focus toward the rift, as it it's an enemy as well.

Ellana shifts on her feet to attack the one just coming through. It's one of those Lesser Terror demons, looking like a spindly green tree with claws, and Ellana knows that it can teleport under her feet with little warning. She keeps a close eye on it, running through spells in her head. She needs to use something that leaves her with enough mana to frost step away if it tries to knock her off her feet. She settles on a simple fire spell and then backs up as it starts to advance on her.

"Are you doing it?" she calls back to Kain, unwilling to take her eyes off the demon.

Looks like she's got the demon. At first, Kain almost wonders if he'll even know what to do... he's no mage after all, and this sort of thing really does seem to be more their sort of task. But it looks like the mark is doing the work for him already. As he gets closer, it sparks even brighter, then suddenly the glowing light shoots out, away from his palm and toward the rift.

"I am now!" Kain shouts in response, incredulous at what he's seeing. He barely has to do a thing, just hold up his hand as the mark does the work on its own, its glowing light starting to react with the rift. It's not painful, at least, not the way it had been when he first arrived.

"Good!" she shouts back over her shoulder, still working on the Terror. She really needs a more powerful staff so she can make short work of these sorts of creatures. Her spells do seem to hurt it, but it keeps advancing, and Ellana has no choice but to swing her staff around and jam her staff blade into its stomach. She has to keep it away from Kain while he closes the rift, or more demons will come through.

Right, he can do this… he can… Much as he’s loath to be involved when it comes to rifts-closing, it’s not so bad now that he’s actually doing it. It doesn’t even hurt, as he’d feared, it just really tingles, an odd, magic-like sensation. He watches as the light continues hitting the rift. Is it even doing anything? It takes time as it crackles and sparkles…

“It’s working!” he says in astonishment, when, a few moments later, the rift begins to shrink under the power from his hand. It continues until it’s completely closed up, the light abruptly fading.

The blade to the stomach has considerably weakened the demon, and Ellana yanks out her blade before slamming it into her foe once more. Its screeching is making her ears want to bleed, but she pushes through and concentrates on spells, setting the thing on fire. That's when Kain speaks, and Ellana feels a surge of relief. No more will come through.

With a few more spells, the demon falls down dead and melts down into the stones of the fortress. She turns around to see the rift as a small green spot in the air before it disappears and she lets out an exhausted laugh.

"You did it!"

Kain keeps his hand up, letting the power from the mark continue to keep on working until it finally slows and starts to fade out. He watches as the last sparks vanish, the same as the glowing rift in the air. He breathes a sigh of relief to feel his hand return back to normal. No pain, thankfully.

He flexes his fingers for a moment, then looks over toward Ellana. He’s glad to see that she took care of the demon. “What a relief… that wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be.”

"That's good to hear. I really don't know enough yet about these rifts, but I'm hoping to learn more back at Skyhold. People are compiling notes, and there's someone there who trains others in Rift Magic." Ellana moves to walk under where the rift stood, gazing up at the air.

"It's wonderful that you were able to seal it. Should we head back to camp now?"

"I almost didn't know if I could..." Kain stares at the palm of his hand. The mark is still there, still the same as ever, and thankfully it seems to have calmed down now. He sighs with relief, grabbing his lance once more with that hand, relieved there's no lasting pain. "Anyway... yes. Let's get going. We've at least dealt with one rift. That's a few less demons to worry about."

Ellana nods, eyes moving from Kain's marked hand to his face. If he's using that hand to carry his lance, then it must not hurt after closing the rift. That's good.

"Always a good thing. Let's go."

[ ooc: good stopping point? ]

"Right. Onward." This has proven to him that he can deal with it, he can handle the whole rift thing, perhaps more than he'd been fearing. His concerns might be all for nothing. Aside from some residual tingling, it's not so bad at all. What a relief.

[ooc: yes, definitely works for me too!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN: The Western Approach

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